CHRISTMAS IN LONDON

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20291, 27 December 1927, Page 9

CHRISTMAS IN LONDON

THE STATIONS CROWDED. HEAVY BOOKINGS FOR CONTINENT (British Official tyireless.) (Preß« Association—By Telegraph —Copyright.) RUGBY, December 23. (Received Dec. 24, at 6.5 p.m.) The Christmas holidays began to-day in earnest. Shopping reached its climax, and all the London stations were crowded with travellers. A feature was the heavy bookings for the Continent. All the air services to the Continent had to be cancelled owing to the gale raging in the channel. The wintry conditions, winch have continued in the north, are not unlikely to extend to the south, so tnat there is after all a prospect of a white Christmas for London. Sir Charles Batho, Lord Mayor London, has issued the following message to Londoners ”In offering Christmas greetings to the citizens of London, 1 think w e may congratulate ourselves upon the happy gestures which h&ve been made by some leading employers as indicative of the establishment of peace and goodwill in our industries. I sincerely hope this augurs the dawn of the New Year of an era of prosperity based upon a better understanding as between master and man.” DISAGREEABLE CONDITIONS. RAIN AND MUD EVERYWHERE. LONDON, December 23. (Received Dec. 25, at 5.5 p.m.) Christmas shopping reached its climax under most disagreeable conditions, mn and mud prevailing everywhere. The postal traffic is 4 per cent, greater than that of last year. It is believed that the Christmas trade has been good on the whole, though there is always the shadow of unemployment and heavy taxation. These, together with the high cost of living, will prevent anything in the shape of a revival of the old-fashioned Christmas.—A. and N.Z. Cable. PILGRIMAGE TO THE SEASIDE. ENORMOUS TRAFFIC TO PARIS. LONDON, December 24. (Received Dec. 26, at 5.5 p.m.) The whole country is Christmas holi-day-making from to-day until Wednesday morning. Snow fell in Scotland to-day, and it is expected that the polar air will spread southwards. Increasing numbers are spending Christmas Day away from home, and restaurant bookings are far more numerous, while the railway companies are surprised at the numbers journeying to the seaside and country inns, apart from the enormous traffic to Paris and Switzerland. The French railway companies say that never before'‘have so many left Paris for the country.—A. and N.Z. Cable. CHRISTMAS WEEK SPENDINGS. ESTIMATED AT £40,000,000. LONDON, December 25 (Received Dec. 26, at 9.35 p.m.) Despite the bad weather, which drenched London with rain, causing business in restaurants and night clubs to be ex tremely slack, England enjoyed probably her greatest Christmas festival since the war. The King and Queen spent the day quietly at Sandringham with the Prince of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of York and Princes Henry and George. _ Economic experts estimate that during Christmas week London spent £40,000,000, or approximately £5,000,000 above the average year, while the country as a whole spent £13,000,000 more than usual. The Christmas mails were 10 per cent, greater in volume than in 1926.—A. and N.Z. Cable.